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Aug 23

In Sickness and in Health: it’s time for Nick to get back in the water – iNews

Lose Weight Safely Comments Off on In Sickness and in Health: it’s time for Nick to get back in the water – iNews

One of my proudest achievements as an adult used to be the fact that Id learnt how to do proper, face-in-water swimming. Or how to swim, as most other people would see it. Until my late twenties, I would do the kind of breaststroke favoured by ladies of a certain age who didnt want to ruin their hairdos. Front crawl was off the agenda, because I didnt like putting my face underwater, and back crawl was too alarming because if I splashed too much, water might find its way up my nose.

Its thanks to Nick that I finally got my head around swimming. He used to be the captain of his schools swimming team and was brilliant in the water. He patiently bobbed about with me in the shallow end of our local baths and taught me how to exhale while submerged. Over the following months, I mastered a few strokes and started lane swimming. I even bought myself a swimming cap so that my fringe didnt impair my front crawling.

As I became fitter (and fed up with some peoples pool etiquette), I started going to the gym, walking and running, and when our local pool shut for refurbishment, I forgot about it. Years passed, and then Nick was run over. Since then, my proudest achievements have been bound up with looking after him; learning to live alone, getting back on the road after years of not driving; doing battle with the care system and the like. Even low-grade athletic prowess has been beyond me, despite wanting to get more active for my own sake as well as to be strong enough to look after Nick.

Then, a few weeks ago, not knowing what to do with myself after work and, for once, not wanting to drink three pints of oblivion in the pub, I remembered the pool round the corner. It was 8pm would it be open? Yes it was, and so a little later I found myself back in the water.

Before I took the plunge, though, it was time for my evening call to Nick. Standing in the echoing corridor by the changing room, I told him I was about to go for a dip.

I miss swimming, he said, sadly.

I used to be really good at it.

Nick hasnt been in a pool since the accident. At first, he was too mad and ill. Then the pool at the hospital was out of service. Then his incontinence was the issue. Then, once he moved to a care home, the nearest pool was being refurbished. Then he moved again, and was told he needed to lose weight before they could safely get him doing hydrotherapy.

Hes managed to lose a stone and a half since Christmas, and I am going to start nagging the home about getting him into a pool. Because since I took to the water recently, Ive been returning often. I mentioned it to a friend who had a baby a few months back. A blissed-out look came across her face. I managed to have a swim the other day, she said. It felt wonderful to feel my body again.

I cant stop thinking about how wonderful it would be for Nick to feel his body doing something different from lying in bed or sitting in his wheelchair.

I asked him this morning how he thought it would feel.

If I could go in the water, I could float and feel free. Ill feel freer than ever.

Link:
In Sickness and in Health: it's time for Nick to get back in the water - iNews

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